Monika Baar

Informal Networks, International Developments and the Founding of the First Interest-Representing Associations of Disabled People in Hungary in the Late Socialist Period (1970s – 1980s)

The article focuses on the grassroots activities of disabled citizens in Hungary during the recent socialist period and relates to the emergence of the first two interest-representing organisations, the National Association of People with Physical Disabilities and the National Association of Parents of Children with Mental and Intellectual Disabilities in 1981. By contextualising the disabled people’s activities within the state socialist system, the article also contemplates the broader question if and to what extent it is possible to speak about a “social movement” and how the Hungarian disabled people’s activities compare to those of disabilty rights movement participants elsewhere in the world. With regard to the specific traits of the Hungarian case, the article emphasises the crucial role of informal networks. Moreover, it argues that contrary to other (capitalist) countries where the efforts of self-determination were directed against the patronising attidues of medical and professional experts, disabled activists in Hungary were actively and wholeheartedly assisted in their emancipatory desires by these professional groups. Last but not least, the article points to the significance of international connections and accommodates the activities of Hungarian disabled people within international developments and particularly within the increased activities in several countries during the International Year of Disabled Persons (1981). Keywords: Disability Movement, Hungary, Informal Networks

Heretics into National Heroes: Jules Michelet's Joan of Arc and František Palacký's John Hus

Historians in the Romantic era frequently expressed fascination with unconventional heroes, an inclination which dovetailed with a striving to introduce new vistas into historical writing. They were no longer content to reiterate their predecessors’ narratives about the histories of the royal court and the battlefield. Some scholars even viewed kings and military leaders, whose deeds old chronicles extolled, as ‘agents of repression’. This old mould of heroes was increasingly being replaced by ‘agents of freedom’; genuine great men, who rose to prominence, not because of their privileged background, but due to their contribution to the destiny of the nation or even to humanity.1 As such personalities traditionally remained unacknowledged in historiography, it required a strenuous effort from scholars to unearth documents that offered at least some clues about their deeds. Moreover, even when such sources were readily available, they usually represented the viewpoint and interests of the ruling powers, and were thus deemed biased and inappropriate for constructing sympathetic portrayals.